Jad Abumrad, the co-host of the Public Radio podcast, RadioLab, acknowledges now that he’s an ‘elder statesman’ of the art form and Time.com’s video profile of him — American Genius — reveals the genius and brilliance of one of the nation’s best storytellers. Read more →
‘Stop talking about the music,’ activist, author, and commentator Van Jones said on CNN last week, urging people to look past the music if they wanted to understand Prince.
And so the Los Angeles Times did in a piece looking at the singer’s religion. Read more →
Punishing someone for misconduct before a trial is no reason to keep a sexual assault allegation on someone’s record, the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday said. Read more →
Not surprisingly, perhaps, the 60 Minutes Facebook page is hosting a spirited debate following last night’s broadcast in which the show revisited an Ohio community that has been devastated by the heroin epidemic. Its broadcast last year first raised the national alarm over the drug. Read more →
A state lawmaker wants Minnesota to have a state color to honor Prince and a bill so stating will probably pass, given that lawmakers love to pass official symbol legislation.
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In his New York Times column, Stones, Notre Dame professor Gary Gutting considers whether everyone should be urged to vote, considering, he says, that there is ample evidence that the majority does not rule.
Even when large majorities of people favor policy change in America, they generally do not get it, he writes of some still-inconclusive research. “If you’re one of the many who are convinced that our system is effectively an oligarchy, why play in an electoral game you think has been rigged?”
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There’ve been plenty of rock acts singing Purple Rain over the last couple of days. On Saturday night at Barclay Center in Brooklyn, Bruce Springsteen walked out to start his concert and didn’t say a word before launching into Prince’s signature song. Read more →
NPR listeners heard an interview this week that pretty well shows the challenge a radio host is faced with when an interview takes a sudden turn.
On Morning Edition on Wednesday, the morning after the New York primary, host David Greene was interviewing Carl Paladino, an honorary co-chairman of Donald Trump’s New York campaign, about the Trump victory the night before. Read more →
This might be the most powerful and insightful interview yet about Prince. Read more →
There should be an alternative for a veteran with PTSD than a cell. But when Joe Serna, 41, a former Special Forces member who has been awarded three Purple Hearts, appeared in a court, North Carolina District Court Judge Lou Olivera didn’t have a lot of choice when Serna admitted he lied about a recent urine test. He sentenced him to a day in jail.
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This was, the experts say, a beautiful ad placed in the nation’s newspapers today in the wake of the death of Prince. The consensus is this tweet from 3M hit the mark, thanks mostly to a well-placed teardrop. Or maybe it was rain. pic.twitter.com/yOTo1USL8o — 3M (@3M) April 21, 2016 But this one, from General Read more →
Who represents us now? Who puts the bounce in Minnesota’s step. Who’s left to declare to the world that Minnesota matters? Read more →
I can’t say I was ever a huge Prince fan. I was never music literate enough, I didn’t experience his evolution the way people in Minnesota did, and I’m not of the right generation, even though somewhere in the boxes of old vinyl albums, there’s a Purple Rain album I listened to once or twice. Read more →
This is a Theft of the Blog Day, during which I encourage you to be the blogging creative class and share your essays and posts on a topic of your choosing. Read more →
A pair of ducks spent the winter in the interior garden of a middle school in Champlin. Yesterday they took a walk to a more wild side. Read more →
Bob Collins